Monthly Archives: November 2024

#1186: Feeder – Shatter

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At the time of the release of ‘Shatter’ in October 2005, Feeder’s most recent album had been Pushing the Senses. Looking at scores and reviews of the project, it seems that critics just weren’t very impressed with it. I’m sure a lot of Feeder fans dug it though. Though I want to say there was one take on the LP I witnessed that more or less said that the band hadn’t got over the death of their drummer Jon Lee and were just making the same old sad songs like they did on the album that came before. A bit of a morbid way to look at it. Insensitive, to say the least. I couldn’t say, really. I’ve never heard it in full. Though I do remember seeing the video for ‘Feeling a Moment’ on TV the one time, the only Feeder songs I knew as a whole were ‘Buck Rogers’ and ‘Just a Day’. So when the video for ‘Shatter’ started making the rounds on MTV2, I was kinda surprised.

This song was nothing like the two songs I was used to. ‘Shatter’ was darker, brooding, had a harder rock edge to it. Contained a sound that left me feeling that there was something unknown lurking around the corner. I think that specific thing’s more reinforced by the music video it got, which contained clips from a Russian movie called Night Watch. But I knew immediately that the song was one that I wanted to hear constantly, and if ever the video came on the TV, I had to make sure I watched the whole thing. It might even be one of the main reasons I got the band’s Singles compilation for Christmas 2006. The song had been released as a single – a double A-side format with fellow song ‘Tender’ – and I’d completely missed that. So the compilation was the only way to ensure that I could hear the track whenever I wanted and not by the judgement of whoever was managing MTV2 in those days.

In fact, the song had originally been released as the B-Side to ‘Tumble and Fall’, when that came around as the lead single for Pushing the Senses in January of 2005. It also would have been familiar to followers of the Gran Turismo series, as the track appeared in the soundtrack of Gran Turismo 4 albeit with a different mix. Word got ’round among fans regarding how good of a song ‘Shatter’ was, and so, after a successful petition, it was promoted from being a song that maybe no one would have gone on to think twice about to being one of their top, top singles. At least, in my eyes. If only I knew what the song was truly about. Think it’s generally about depression. There’s probably more to it. What I know is, it’s been in my library for almost 20 years now and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. My particular favourite bit is the instrumental break before the final chorus with the frantic chord changes underneath the spooky synth(?) solo. Gets quite intense before exploding into the song’s last moments. I like this one a lot.

#1185: Test Icicles – Sharks

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Maybe someday Test Icicles will get that unexpected burst of attention. Whether it through some strange trending sensation on TikTok, or a featured song in a very popular film or advert on the TV. Whatever happens. It would be nice. I remember initially being really turned off by the band when the first came round in 2005 with ‘Circle. Square. Triangle’. I was 10 at that point and thought it was a bunch of noise. But then my sister got the band’s album as a loan from a friend later on that year. I still didn’t get it. But, from what I remember, she did. And I particularly remember her spontaneously busting out lyrics from ‘Catch It!’ and ‘Sharks’, which as you can see, is today’s subject.

For Screening Purposes Only, Test Icicles’ one and only album, carried a name taken from the 1999 film Thicker Than Water, in which the phrase would appear onscreen whenever any violence happened. Never seen it, just going by what Wikipedia says. So in my head, I’m thinking that the three member must have been into films, they must have watched Jaws one day and, with a spark of inspiration, got to writing a new song. You won’t find official sources to back this up, so I’m going with this until that changes. ‘Sharks’, written by Sam Mehran or ‘Sam E Danger’ as he went by in the band, is about… well, sharks. Particularly how frightening they are. Maybe Mehran had a nightmare about being attacked by one. Though there might be a whole metaphor I’m missing out on here. All these theories I have, I mean, they sound plausible. They may be completely wrong too. Anyone out there, please correct me if so.

The track has a hidden introduction at the end of the song that precedes it on the album. A definitely Jaws-inspired motif played on a bass guitar is joined by a programmed drum pattern before launching into the official start of the song, a minor-key surf rock riff that properly gets the serotonin going. Mehran, Devonte Hynes and Rory Atwell bark out the track’s opening words, ‘Sharks. Sharks. Bite. Kill. Sharks.’ And a lot of screaming ensues. There’s plenty of that throughout actually. But things change musically from one section to the next. The surf-rock vibe switches out to a slower, more creeping part after what I guess you call the chorus. The song doesn’t really have one. But then after the sort of glitchy instrumental break, the initial riff comes in with a vengeance and brings it all to definitive close. Very impactful. The music’s better than the description.

#1184: They Might Be Giants – Shape Shifter

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In preparation for the release of They Might Be Giants’s BOOK album in 2021 – or because it had just been released, I can’t quite recall – I went ahead and listened through the band’s whole discography via Spotify. Missing out the children’s albums in the process, though. Now, TMBG’s one of my favourite ever groups, there are so many posts on here for songs by the band that back that up, so a lot of their albums I knew front to back already. But that wasn’t the case when it came to their 2016 album, Phone Power. That was the one record of theirs that I had never heard in full before. 2021 was the year to change this.

Back in 2015, TMBG revived their Dial-a-Song project – which initially existed in the ’80s as a literal thing where you could dial a number and new/old/in-the-works They Might Be Giants song would play through the phone speaker. But now this was the 21st century. But now there was a website and phone apps where you could easily access the stuff, and the band announced that a new song would be released every week throughout the year. ‘Shape Shifter’ arrived as the 52nd and last song in the “new” service, being provided to the masses on the 28th December 2015. The majority of the tracks were then compiled into three albums, Glean, Why?, and the aforementioned Phone Power, where ‘Shape Shifter’ can be found as the 15th track. The album isn’t a favourite of mine, by any means. It does sort of feel like a compilation rather than an album that was properly thought out. But ‘Shape Shifter’ was a hit to me from the jump.

The track has this grand showtune atmosphere about it, introduced by these processed John Linnell harmonies leading into the verses where he then adopts this more loungey, crooning tone to his vocal. The track concerns a person witnessing people and objects changing all around them. It may be a whole big metaphor about not being able to keep up with the times while people, technology, nature, whatever is constantly evolving. Or it’s literally about a man disturbed by his clarinet turning into a purple tentacle. It’s all entertaining stuff. I think the only irk I have about the track is that it could sound so much larger than it does. The horns that come in near the end are clearly synthesized. And I feel like the use of an actual brass section would have been amazing. And those Linnell harmonies I mentioned before could sound so much wider, have more of a booming presence. But hey, what do I know? The way it is, I’ll take it any day of the week.

#1183: Wu-Tang Clan – Shame on a Nigga

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A representative from one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Shame – no pun intended – that this will probably be the only track from Enter the Wu Tang that I cover on here. But my appreciation for the LP goes a long way. 2013 was the 20th anniversary of the album’s release, and around the same time was when I first heard the thing in full. It’s a wonder how Wu-Tang is even a thing that continues to this day. You’d think a group of nine strong-minded individuals, all with their respective wants, styles, etc, would come to blows and wouldn’t remain stable for any length of time. But, bonded by family, the borough of Staten Island, an interest in martial arts films, and an obvious appreciation for hip-hop, the Wu gave us their debut and shot to legendary status almost immediately.

You might have already heard this song if you were intrigued by the post I made a couple of days ago. But if not, well, here it is. Before it was covered by System of a Down some years later under the name ‘Shame’, ‘Shame on a Nigga’ was released, appearing as the second song on Wu-Tang Clan’s 1993 debut album. Though if you were offended by the ‘rude’ language, a radio version of the track was also made entitled, ‘Shame on a Nuh’. Over a beat that features samples from Syl Johnson to Thelonius Monk, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man and Raekwon the Chef deliver respective verses in which they more or less tell the listener why people will fail if ever they step up to them, either in an aggressive way or when it comes to rap. When it comes to rap, they’ll lose because of their lack of skill. If things get violent, they’ll get shit. And that’s how it goes. As the song progresses, a new rapper’s brought into the frame just to add their own distinct voice to the mix. Makes the song that more engaging to listen to. And Ol’ Dirty closes the track off with the longest verse in which he again tells us why he isn’t the one to pick a duel with while referencing that old film The Warriors and telling us that he had gonorrhea sometime in the past. It’s a funny verse.

It’s a good, good song. Much different from how System of a Down provided it, for very obvious reasons. And even though that cover was the iteration of the track I heard before hearing the original, I’d say I’ve liked both on an equal level for a while at this point. You may ask why this song will be the only song from 36 Chambers that I’ll write about on here. I said that in the first paragraph. Well, ‘Clan in da Front’ was one I added when I think I’d already all the ‘C’ songs. And the obvious ones like ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ and ‘Method Man’ I got tired of due to my old iPhone seemingly playing those two nearly every day, even when I had all my songs on shuffle. I know those two are classics, but I could go a long while without hearing them again. But I’ll always have a lot of love for Wu-Tang. It’s for the children, as that old saying goes. The group’s music’s one thing. When you bring all the respective members’ solo material into it, it’s a different ballgame altogether. So, you know, if you never knew Wu-Tang before, the time to get to know them is now.

#1182: System of a Down ft. RZA – Shame

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So this may actually be one of the greatest covers of all time. But when I first heard it many moons ago, I didn’t realise it was one. The song was on the old computer somehow. Maybe my sister downloaded it, or it was sent to her by a friend through MSN. I’m not sure. But it was there. Now, I definitely wasn’t expecting the N-word to be repeated as much as it was. The young me knew that it was a word that usually shouldn’t be said because music videos usually censored it out. But there was Serj Tankian rapping it, saying it freely with reckless abandon. It didn’t make sense to me ’cause, you know… he’s white. But then after finding out it was a cover of the original Wu-Tang classic, which – heads up – will be the next song featured on here, everything made a lot more sense.

The track is the first one on the Loud Rocks compilation from 2000, which consists of remixes, covers and collaborations between rock and hip hop music artists. I’ve never heard it myself. I’ve just copied what it says on Wikipedia. But being released in the time when nu-metal was probably at its peak in relevancy, I can imagine this album being somewhat popular at the time. System of a Down at this point only had their self-titled debut to their name. Wu-Tang Clan’s third album was on the way. How this cover and collaboration even came to be, I’m not sure. But I’m glad that it did. And what better way to get a seal of approval than for it to feature an original verse by the RZA, the mastermind behind the Wu, who also helps out with the ad libs throughout.

Thinking about this specific cover too, I think it’s meant to be a tribute to fellow Wu-Tang member Ol’ Dirty Bastard in some way. Sometime in 2000, the rapper was incarcerated for a reason or a few, and with the way System arrange the cover, Serj raps both of Ol’ Dirty’s verses from the original. A few lines from Method Man’s verse are missed out, and Raekwon’s verse is omitted altogether to make way for RZA’s new verse. When Serj isn’t rapping, his singing relies on a melodic scale that I can only assume is influenced by their Armenian heritage, made all the much more heavier when those downtuned guitars come in for the massive choruses. Honestly, when Tankian yells “Let’s get together!” before that first one, makes me wanna cannonball into a swimming pool or something. Just immediate screw-facing and headbanging happens with those choruses.